Reviews and Comments

Time.

Midway through the book, I've realized what the seemingly esoteric title was for. "Time is a goon" said the fat, obsolete rocker. His misery is not only his. It is shared by a multitude of characters who are all victims of time, and what's equally marvelous is the fact that they share in an industry where time is, indeed, the most cruel goon of all. Music.

Keeping with Jennifer Egan's writing is not as difficult as I anticipated. The story was easy to follow. The structure, however, is a complete gem. Her creative shifts of POV in between chapters, and the within the chapters themselves create an atmosphere of modernity. It kept me in dumbfounded attention to both her style and story.

Goon Squad is a story told in impeccable style that doesn't forego understanding. For me who usually associates with the classics of literature by virtue of both narrative depth and virtuoso storytelling, A Visit from the Goon Squad is a revelation amid the many of the lesser fictions plaguing our bookshelves today.

A good book is always the type you have to read many times. It's not always, but it's usually the case.

Lolita is a marvelous product of prose-writing. More than that, however, is the soul of a love story "crossed by the stars". It's not an easy read, as the images melt so seamlessly it gets one lost on occasion. That's the point. That's what writing is supposed to be, I guess, for the purposes of the great Vladimir Nabokov. The walls of creative writing broke down in his prose, and, as a millenial, I have only discovered it.

No, it's not an easy read, but for the reader itself, it's a test of character of gaining substance amid a meticulous style. Humbert's meditations on love, life, and his darling Lolita looks, at first, a prelude to erotic adventures. But no, no, mistaken was the reader for such perceptions that the world has posed on books like this!

Was it a love story? Was it, for all intents and purposes, a classic? That is for you to decide. Because however phantasmal the phallic fantasies of a 40-something metafictional character, - ladies and gentlemen of the jury - the judgment remains into your hands.